Friday, February 22, 2013
Temporary tattoos could make electronic telepathy and telekinesis possible
End Of Days News
Temporary tattoos could make electronic telepathy and telekinesis possible
Temporary electronic tattoos could soon help people fly drones with only thought and talk seemingly telepathically without speech over smartphones, researchers say. Electrical engineer Todd Coleman at the University of California at San Diego is devising noninvasive means of controlling machines via the mind, techniques virtually everyone might be able to use.
Temporary electronic tattoos could soon help people fly drones with only thought and talk seemingly telepathically without speech over smartphones, researchers say. Electrical engineer
Commanding machines using the brain is no longer the stuff of science fiction. In recent years, brain implants have enabled people to control robotics using only their minds, raising the prospect that one day patients could overcome disabilities using bionic limbs or mechanical exoskeletons.
But brain implants are invasive technologies, probably of use only to people in medical need of them. Instead, Coleman and his team are developing wireless flexible electronics one can apply on the forehead just like temporary tattoos to read brain activity.
"We want something we can use in the coffee shop to have fun," Coleman says.
The devices are less than 100 microns thick, the average diameter of a human hair. They consist of circuitry embedded in a layer or rubbery polyester that allow them to stretch, bend and wrinkle. They are barely visible when placed on skin, making them easy to conceal from others.
The devices can detect electrical signals linked with brain waves, and incorporate solar cells for power and antennas that allow them to communicate wirelessly or receive energy. Other elements can be added as well, like thermal sensors to monitor skin temperature and light detectors to analyze blood oxygen levels.
Using the electronic tattoos, Coleman and his colleagues have found they can detect brain signals reflective of mental states, such as recognition of familiar images. One application they are now pursuing is monitoring premature babies to detect the onset of seizures that can lead to epilepsy or brain development problems. The devices are now being commercialized for use as consumer, digital health, medical device, and industrial and defense products by startup MC10 in Cambridge, Mass.
Electronic telekinesis? Digital telepathy?
In past studies, Coleman's team found that volunteers could use caps studded with electrodes to remotely control airplanes and flew an unmanned aerial vehicle over cornfields in Illinois. Although the electronic tattoos currently cannot be used to pilot planes, "we're actively working on that," Coleman says.
These devices can also be put on other parts of the body, such as the throat. When people think about talking, their throat muscles move even if they do not speak, a phenomenon known as subvocalization. Electronic tattoos placed on the throat could therefore behave as subvocal microphones through which people could communicate silently and wirelessly.
"We've demonstrated our sensors can pick up the electrical signals of muscle movements in the throat so that people can communicate just with thought," Coleman says. Electronic tattoos placed over the throat could also pick up signals that would help smartphones with speech recognition, he added.
Invasive brain implants remain better at reading brain activity, Coleman notes.
But neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University Medical Center says there is a need for noninvasive technologies such as these for the brain. "People will want to navigate environments just by thinking, or play games just by thinking," says Nicolelis, who did not take part in this research.
Coleman detailed his group's most recent findings in Boston on Feb. 17 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Security forces storm Temple Mount, disperse protesters
End Of Days News
Palestinian protests in Jerusalem and the West Bank turned violent on Friday, with demonstrators throwing stones at Israeli security forces at several locations.
At the Temple Mount in the capital’s Old City, Palestinians exiting Friday prayers hurled stones at security forces stationed near the Mughrabi Gate. Israeli forces stormed the area, entering the Temple Mount compound, and used stun grenades to disperse the protesters. There were no injuries, according to police.
In Hebron, dozens of Palestinians attacked security forces with stones in the city’s Jewish quarter. A Border Police officer was mildly injured after being hit by a brick hurled by protesters. He received initial medical treatment on the scene before being transferred to hospital.
Hundreds of protesters also gathered at the Beitunia military checkpoint near the Ofer Prison outside Ramallah, where several Palestinian inmates are on a hunger strike. Dozens of them threw stones at IDF and Border Police stationed at the post.
In Nabi Saleh, also near Ramallah, security forces used live fire to disperse protesters.
Israeli security forces had been placed on high alert ahead of the anticipated protests, following escalating demonstrations in recent days.
Some Israeli experts believe the Palestinian Authority is using the issue of the hunger strikers to try to foster a first intifada-style Palestinian uprising.
Demonstrations were planned in solidarity with Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli jails. But protesters also said they intended to mark the anniversary of Baruch Goldstein’s massacre of 29 Palestinians at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in 1994.
US President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to Israel was also expected to draw protests, according to Israel Radio.
Police were deployed in unusually high numbers in the Old City as Friday prayers were held, and at the entrances to villages around Jerusalem.
Several Palestinians and three Israeli journalists were injured Thursday as thousands of Palestinians demonstrated at the Beitunia military checkpoint, calling for the release of inmates who are on a hunger strike.
US, Israel: Iran cuts distance to nuclear bomb
End Of Days News
The US slammed as “provocative” the installment of 180 advanced centrifuge at Iran’s main uranium enrichment site at Natanz, stressing that this will be the six powers’ focus in the talks with Iran opening next Tuesday in Kazakhstan. The UN nuclear atomic agency in its latest report confirmed that the new IR-2m centrifuges can enrich three to five times faster than the outdated machines in use at Natanz until now.
The report's findings "prove that Iran continues to advance quickly to the red line" which Israel considers intolerable, said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, adding: "Iran is closer than ever to achieving enrichment for a nuclear bomb."
The "red line" also was a term Netanyahu used to the U.N. General Assembly. There, he said the world has until next summer at the latest to stop Iran before it can build a nuclear bomb.
The US slammed as “provocative” the installment of 180 advanced centrifuge at Iran’s main uranium enrichment site at Natanz, stressing that this will be the six powers’ focus in the talks with Iran opening next Tuesday in Kazakhstan. The UN nuclear atomic agency in its latest report confirmed that the new IR-2m centrifuges can enrich three to five times faster than the outdated machines in use at Natanz until now.
The report's findings "prove that Iran continues to advance quickly to the red line" which Israel considers intolerable, said a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, adding: "Iran is closer than ever to achieving enrichment for a nuclear bomb."
The "red line" also was a term Netanyahu used to the U.N. General Assembly. There, he said the world has until next summer at the latest to stop Iran before it can build a nuclear bomb.
Iran appears to advance in construction of Arak nuclear plant
End Of Days News
Nuclear analysts say this type of reactor could yield plutonium for nuclear
arms if the spent fuel is reprocessed, something Iran has said it has no intention of doing.
Iran has said it "does not have reprocessing activities", the IAEA
said.
In its previous report on Iran, in November, the Vienna-based U.N. agency
said installation work at Arak was continuing, without giving any indication of
how far advanced it was.
Iran rejects Western allegations it seeks to develop a capability to assemble
nuclear weapons, saying its atomic program is entirely peaceful and that the
Arak reactor will produce isotopes for medical and agricultural use.
Iran says it plans to begin operating the facility in the first quarter of
2014, the IAEA said. Tehran last year postponed the planned start-up from the
third quarter of 2013, a target that Western experts said always had seemed
unrealistic.
The Arms Control Association, a Washington-based research and advocacy group,
said late last year that it was questionable whether Iran would be able to meet
the new target date as well, in view of "significant delays and impeded access
to necessary materials" because of international sanctions imposed on
Iran.
Western worries about Iran are focused largely on uranium enrichment plants
at Natanz and Fordow, as such material refined to a high level can provide the
fissile core of an atomic bomb. But experts say Arak may also be a proliferation
issue.
The Arak facility is a "growing source of concern", said Mark Fitzpatrick,
director of the non-proliferation and disarmament program of the International
Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a London-based think-tank.
Israel, believed to be the Middle East's
only nuclear-armed state, sees Iran's nuclear program as a serious danger and
has threatened to attack its atomic sites if diplomacy and sanctions fail to
resolve the decade-old dispute.
If it does, the nuclear sites at Natanz, Fordow and Arak in central Iran are
likely to be targets. Fitzpatrick said it could be Arak that triggers a conflict
because attacking it after it is launched could cause an environmental
disaster.
TESTING FUEL FOR ARAK REACTOR
Thursday's quarterly IAEA report showed Iran expanding its uranium enrichment
program in defiance of tightening Western sanctions, installing advanced
centrifuge machines at its main enrichment plant near the town of
Natanz.
The report, issued just a few days before six world powers and Iran are due
to resume negotiations after an eight-month hiatus, underlined the tough task
facing the West in seeking to pressure Tehran to curb its nuclear
activities.
Cliff Kupchan, Middle East director at the Eurasia consultancy, said Iran had
adopted a defiant policy of pressing ahead with its nuclear program, despite
harsh sanctions.
"As a result, Israel and the U.S. Congress will press a
receptive U.S. administration to move forward with new and even harsher
sanctions," he said in a research note.
Enriched uranium can fuel nuclear power plants, Iran's stated aim,
but also provide the explosive core of a nuclear weapon if refined much further.
Making plutonium from spent fuel is a second way of obtaining potential bomb
material.
The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a U.S.
think-tank, noted that Iran planned to use a medical research reactor in Tehran, known
as TRR, to test fuel for Arak.
"The TRR is now more than a medical isotope production reactor, Iran's stated
use for the reactor, and is necessary for the operation" of Arak, it said in a
report.
If operated optimally, the heavy-water plant could produce about nine
kilograms (20 pounds) of plutonium a year, or enough for about two nuclear bombs
annually, ISIS has said previously.
"Before it could use any of the plutonium in a nuclear weapon, however, it
would first have to separate the plutonium from the irradiated fuel," it added
on its website.
Iran has repeatedly declared it has no plans to reprocess the spent fuel.
But, "similarly sized reactors ostensibly built for research" have been used by
India, Israel, North
Korea and Pakistan to make plutonium for weapons,
Fitzpatrick said.
(Reuters) - Iran appears to
be advancing in its construction of a research reactor Western
experts say could offer the Islamic state a second way of producing material for
a nuclear bomb, if it decided to embark on such a course, a U.N. report
showed.
Iran has almost completed installation of
cooling and moderator circuit piping in the heavy water plant near the town of
Arak, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a confidential
report issued to member states late on Thursday.‘Zombie cell’ mates biology and chemistry at nano-scale
End Of Days News
US researchers developed a process that coats a living cell with silica ‘armor’, creating a near-identical inorganic duplicate. This ‘zombie cell’ technique has the potential for building complex nano-scale machines using life as blueprint.
The process developed at the University of New Mexico is relatively simple. The team suspended living mammalian cells in a petri dish and added mild solution of silicic acid. One of the acid’s byproducts softens the protective lipid casing of the cell and makes it porous enough for the silica to flow in.
The acid then, in a process ‘still partially obscure’,embalms every organelle in the cell from the micro- and down to nanometer scale, covering them with a sort of silica armor. The resulting cell/silica composite can be then heated to either evaporate the protein ‘mold’ and created a near-perfect silica replica of the cellular structure.
Its most immediate use is long-lasting preservation of biological samples. But potentially the technique can be used to fabricate complex useful nanomachinery, says Bryan Kaehr a materials scientist at UNM’s Sandia National Laboratories.
“It’s very challenging for researchers to build structures at the nanometer scale,” he said. “We can make particles and wires, but 3-D arbitrary structures haven’t been achieved yet. With this technique, we don’t need to build those structures — nature does it for us. We only need to find cells that possess the machinery we want and copy it using our technique. And, using chemistry or surface patterning, we can program a group of cells to form whatever shape seems desirable.”
The alternative is to heat the composite without oxygen and turn the protein into porous conductive graphitic carbon supported by the silica coating. The silica can then be dissolved living a carbon structure that can find its use in fuel cells, decontamination and sensor technology.
If the composite isn’t heated, there are possible applications too. For instance, biological catalysts – the enzymes – must retain a certain shape to trigger chemical reactions. The silica coating preserves the structure at temperatures undreamed of by nature while still able to carry out reactions.
“Our zombie cells bridge chemistry and biology to create forms that not only near-perfectly resemble their past selves but can do future work,” Kaehr says.
The team reported their finds in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The process developed at the University of New Mexico is relatively simple. The team suspended living mammalian cells in a petri dish and added mild solution of silicic acid. One of the acid’s byproducts softens the protective lipid casing of the cell and makes it porous enough for the silica to flow in.
The acid then, in a process ‘still partially obscure’,embalms every organelle in the cell from the micro- and down to nanometer scale, covering them with a sort of silica armor. The resulting cell/silica composite can be then heated to either evaporate the protein ‘mold’ and created a near-perfect silica replica of the cellular structure.
Its most immediate use is long-lasting preservation of biological samples. But potentially the technique can be used to fabricate complex useful nanomachinery, says Bryan Kaehr a materials scientist at UNM’s Sandia National Laboratories.
“It’s very challenging for researchers to build structures at the nanometer scale,” he said. “We can make particles and wires, but 3-D arbitrary structures haven’t been achieved yet. With this technique, we don’t need to build those structures — nature does it for us. We only need to find cells that possess the machinery we want and copy it using our technique. And, using chemistry or surface patterning, we can program a group of cells to form whatever shape seems desirable.”
The alternative is to heat the composite without oxygen and turn the protein into porous conductive graphitic carbon supported by the silica coating. The silica can then be dissolved living a carbon structure that can find its use in fuel cells, decontamination and sensor technology.
If the composite isn’t heated, there are possible applications too. For instance, biological catalysts – the enzymes – must retain a certain shape to trigger chemical reactions. The silica coating preserves the structure at temperatures undreamed of by nature while still able to carry out reactions.
“Our zombie cells bridge chemistry and biology to create forms that not only near-perfectly resemble their past selves but can do future work,” Kaehr says.
The team reported their finds in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
US justifies terrorism by blocking Damascus bombing condemnation - Russia
End Of Days News
Russia has accused the US of blocking a draft UN Security Council statement condemning the suicide bombings in the Syrian capital, which were among the deadliest in the two years of the armed conflict. The US blamed Russia in return.
The draft document submitted by Russia was aiming to express condolences to the victims of the Thursday attack on Damascus, which killed at least 53 people and wounded more than 250, and to condemn terrorism in any form. The anti-regime London-based Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll even higher, saying Friday that the coordinated bombings killed a total of 90 people, including some 60 in the most powerful blast in the Mazraa district.
But the adoption was blocked by the US and its allies, which wanted to add language condemning the Syrian President Bashar Assad, a move that Russia could not accept.
“Unfortunately, such an indispensable reaction by the Security Council to this terrorist attack has been once again blocked by the US delegation linking it with other questions,”the office of, Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s envoy to the UN, said.
“We consider unacceptable this search for justifications for terrorist actions. It is obvious that by doing so the US delegation encourages those who have been repeatedly targeting American interests, including US diplomatic missions,” the statement added.
The words are a thinly-veiled reference to the September 2012 attack on the US diplomatic mission in Libya’s Benghazi, in which America’s ambassador to the country and three other staff members were killed by Al-Qaeda-linked militants. Russia’s embassy in Damascus was among the buildings damaged by the suicide bombings, which Syria says were also carried out by Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Spokeswoman for the US mission to the UN, Erin Peltin, said“We strongly condemn all indiscriminate terrorist attacks against civilians or against diplomatic facilities.
“We agreed with the Russian draft of a statement from the Security Council and only sought to add similar language on the regime’s brutal attacks against the Syrian people. Unfortunately, Russia refused to engage on a credible text.”
Opponents of the Syrian regime both among the rebel fighters and the international backers of the opposition have been pressuring Assad to step down. They accuse Russia of supporting him despite the thousands of lives the confrontation has claimed, saying most of the violence is his and his government’s fault.
“The problem is that the opposition saying every five minutes that they don’t want to talk to Bashar Assad,” told RT in an interview UN and Arab League special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi.
The latest opposition demand for Assad to step down comes in a political statement from the Western-, Arab- and Turkish-backed Syrian National Coalition, which the body adopted after a late session on Thursday in Cairo.
The statement was passed after an angry debate, in which some members both Islamist and liberal camps of the 70-strong body criticized their chief Moaz Khatib for his earlier proposal of talks without setting a “clear goal”, as the critics said.
“We have adopted a political document that sets the parameters for any talks. The main addition to the draft is a clause about the necessity of Assad stepping step down,” said Abdelbasset Sida, a member of the coalition's 12-member politburo and one of Khatib’s critics.
Russia has on many occasions insisted that the personal fate of Assad is not Moscow’s concern. But Moscow insists that Assad staying in power or stepping down can only be discussed after the violence is stopped and a diplomatic solution to the conflict in found, and cannot be a precondition for negotiations. It offers itself as mediator for possible talks between Damascus and the opposition, including hosting such a meeting in Moscow.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem is due for talks in Moscow. Russia hopes that Khatib will also visit soon in search of a breakthrough.
The draft document submitted by Russia was aiming to express condolences to the victims of the Thursday attack on Damascus, which killed at least 53 people and wounded more than 250, and to condemn terrorism in any form. The anti-regime London-based Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll even higher, saying Friday that the coordinated bombings killed a total of 90 people, including some 60 in the most powerful blast in the Mazraa district.
But the adoption was blocked by the US and its allies, which wanted to add language condemning the Syrian President Bashar Assad, a move that Russia could not accept.
“Unfortunately, such an indispensable reaction by the Security Council to this terrorist attack has been once again blocked by the US delegation linking it with other questions,”the office of, Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s envoy to the UN, said.
“We consider unacceptable this search for justifications for terrorist actions. It is obvious that by doing so the US delegation encourages those who have been repeatedly targeting American interests, including US diplomatic missions,” the statement added.
The words are a thinly-veiled reference to the September 2012 attack on the US diplomatic mission in Libya’s Benghazi, in which America’s ambassador to the country and three other staff members were killed by Al-Qaeda-linked militants. Russia’s embassy in Damascus was among the buildings damaged by the suicide bombings, which Syria says were also carried out by Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
Spokeswoman for the US mission to the UN, Erin Peltin, said“We strongly condemn all indiscriminate terrorist attacks against civilians or against diplomatic facilities.
“We agreed with the Russian draft of a statement from the Security Council and only sought to add similar language on the regime’s brutal attacks against the Syrian people. Unfortunately, Russia refused to engage on a credible text.”
Opponents of the Syrian regime both among the rebel fighters and the international backers of the opposition have been pressuring Assad to step down. They accuse Russia of supporting him despite the thousands of lives the confrontation has claimed, saying most of the violence is his and his government’s fault.
“The problem is that the opposition saying every five minutes that they don’t want to talk to Bashar Assad,” told RT in an interview UN and Arab League special envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi.
The latest opposition demand for Assad to step down comes in a political statement from the Western-, Arab- and Turkish-backed Syrian National Coalition, which the body adopted after a late session on Thursday in Cairo.
The statement was passed after an angry debate, in which some members both Islamist and liberal camps of the 70-strong body criticized their chief Moaz Khatib for his earlier proposal of talks without setting a “clear goal”, as the critics said.
“We have adopted a political document that sets the parameters for any talks. The main addition to the draft is a clause about the necessity of Assad stepping step down,” said Abdelbasset Sida, a member of the coalition's 12-member politburo and one of Khatib’s critics.
Russia has on many occasions insisted that the personal fate of Assad is not Moscow’s concern. But Moscow insists that Assad staying in power or stepping down can only be discussed after the violence is stopped and a diplomatic solution to the conflict in found, and cannot be a precondition for negotiations. It offers itself as mediator for possible talks between Damascus and the opposition, including hosting such a meeting in Moscow.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem is due for talks in Moscow. Russia hopes that Khatib will also visit soon in search of a breakthrough.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)